Protesters Rally to Challenge Islamists in Somalia

By MARC LACEY; Mark Mazzetti and Helene Cooper contributed reporting from Washington for this article.

Published: June 7, 2006

Tensions remained high in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on Tuesday, as the Islamic militants who seized control of the city the day before vowed to set up a religious state, while thousands of protesters allied with one of the country's largest clans pledged to challenge the effort.

The warlords who have been pushed from their strongholds in Mogadishu said they would fight back against the Islamists, said news agency reports from the capital.

Bashir Rageh, a warlord who lost control of a key airstrip and port in March, and Muse Sudi Yalahow, another important Mogadishu leader who has lost ground to the Islamic militias, joined thousands of their backers from the Abgal clan at a stadium north of the capital to denounce the Islamic courts and militias that have taken the city.

''Our clan has agreed to defend our land, and we will fight the courts hiding under the cloak of Islam and trying to fool our people,'' said Mr. Rageh, who was protected by heavily armed security men.

As the protesters rallied, the leaders of the alliance of Islamic courts insisted in a letter to American officials and other diplomats that they were not hiding terrorists, as the United States has claimed, and instead were seeking friendly relations with the outside world.

In the letter, Sheik Sharif Ahmed, chairman of the Islamic Courts Union, the alliance that control the militias, accused Americans of fueling the fierce fighting in Mogadishu by backing the warlords who he said have terrorized the country for the last 15 years.

An array of Africa analysts, academics and Somali politicians said Washington had made financial payments to the warlords in recent months in an effort to root out members of Al Qaeda who American officials contend are being sheltered inside Mogadishu by the Islamists.

''We categorically deny and reject any accusation that we are harboring any terrorists or supporters of terrorism in the areas where the courts operate,'' the sheik wrote.

He welcomed visitors to Mogadishu, which has long been considered too unsafe for international diplomats, to see whether terrorists are operating there. ''We have nothing to hide from the international community,'' he said.

In Washington, a senior Bush administration official said the administration was willing to take the letter at face value. ''If they're going to be a credible, legitimate political actor, and not support Al Qaeda and terrorism, then we'd encourage the transitional government to work with them,'' said the official, who could not be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

Some critics argued that American efforts in Somalia did not add up to a coherent policy, and that recent events had caught policy makers off guard. ''The problem is that we don't have any strategy at all,'' said Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat who is the Senate's leading expert on Somalia. ''We weren't even paying attention.''

Sheik Sharif Ahmed mentioned nothing in the letter about his plans for turning Somalia into an Islamic state, but he raised the topic at a gathering of hundreds of supporters in Mogadishu on Tuesday. ''Until we get the Islamic state, we will continue with the Islamic struggle in Somalia,'' he said, according to news agency reports.

Also left unaddressed by the sheik was whether the Islamic court leaders would work with the new transitional government that is operating in Baidoa, 155 miles from Mogadishu.

The counter-rally, which was held about a mile from positions held by Islamic militias, underscored the challenges that the new rulers of the capital would face in consolidating power after 15 years of anarchy there. Clan allegiance has long been the most powerful force in Somalia, trumping religion. By rallying the Abgal clan, opponents of the Islamists have sought to redefine the conflict.

Photo: Demonstrators linked to an important Somali clan gathered yesterday to reject the idea of an Islamic state. (Photo by Mohamed Sheikh Nor/Associated Press)